In the end, it wasn’t so much that Scott Niedermayer wanted to end his career a certain way, or even that he felt pressured to play out the final year of his contract with the Ducks.

He just wanted to play hockey.

“When I first started thinking about retiring last year, I maybe didn’t appreciate some of the things that would make it difficult walking away from the game, something I’ve been doing since I was 6 years old,” Niedermayer said Thursday after announcing he would return to the Ducks in 2008-09.

“It felt like the right decision after sitting on it a little bit.”

No one in the Ducks’ camp would disagree. Niedermayer, a four-time All-Star defenseman, captained the 2007 team to its only Stanley Cup championship. He played the final 54 games, (eight goals, 29 points) including the playoffs, after contemplating retirement last season.

From a player who is due a team-high $6.75 million next season, it also gives the Ducks some much-needed certainty before the NHL free-agency period begins next Tuesday.

“And for me, in a selfish way, I don’t wake up not knowing what I’m going to do next week or the week after,” Niedermayer said.

There had been speculation that Niedermayer would announce whether he was returning or retiring prior to the NHL draft last Friday. Ducks General Manager Brian Burke then told Niedermayer to wait until this week, after his wife had given birth to the couple’s fourth child.

Burke said Niedermayer called him at 10:01 a.m. Thursday to make his decision final.

“I’m not surprised, but obviously pleased,” Burke said. “We’re a better team this afternoon than we were (Thursday) morning.”

Niedermayer said he expects 2008-09 will be his final season.

The announcement comes on the same day the NHL and NHL Players’ Association announced that the team payroll range was set between $40.7 and $56.7 million. With Niedermayer in the fold and the payroll allowance a bit higher, Burke said that will allow him the possibility of keeping together a defense that allowed 191 goals last season, seven more than league-leading Detroit.

“Is that the best way to proceed? I don’t know,” Burke said. “We’re trying to figure out what’s the next step. We can (keep the defense together) … but that doesn’t mean we’re going to.”

The team also is looking to re-sign right wing Corey Perry to a long-term contract. However, Ducks assistant general manager David McNab said it still will be difficult to do so before free agency begins because of “tagging room,” a provision of the collective bargaining agreement that affects a team’s cap space for contracts lasting more than a year.

Eighteen players under contract will become free agents in a year, which McNab said will make it easier to sign Perry — and any other free agents — come Tuesday.

“It’s the tagging, not the salary cap,” McNab said. “We have a lot of money for next season. … I’m confident the word `tagging’ will not come into our vocabulary until next year.”

Regarding the status of Teemu Selanne, who is due to become a free agent Tuesday, Burke said: “I asked him to call me before he left (for his offseason home in Finland). He’s in Helsinki and I haven’t talked to him.”

Like Niedermayer, Selanne contemplated retirement last season before returning in February.